Both argue that the open land there is ripe for advanced manufacturing and the good-paying jobs that come with it.

Wood even said he hopes to lure businesses related to the University of Notre Dame's nanotechnology efforts.

The swift-flowing corridor links the bypass to the Toll Road, a fact not lost by either candidate.

Fry said it would be a "huge" deal for manufacturers to have access to those corridors and adds, "Indiana's biggest employer is manufacturing."

Since he became mayor 13 months ago, Wood said, the city acquired thousands of feet of easement so it can install utilities and the Metronet fiber-optics system.

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Last fall, the city also acquired land along Capital's northern end, where more utilities would go into place for prospective businesses -- a "gateway" from the Toll Road, he said.

"It's an opportunity to promote our city on the Toll Road," he said. "We're actively planning the layout of the roads so that, when the economy turns around, we're going to make it happen."

Fry often states in his campaign that, as the state representative for Mishawaka, he has worked to bring in $100 million to rebuild Capital over the past 20 years.

If elected, he said he'd develop a manufacturing park and a health and technology park along Capital.

He also proposes working with Ivy Tech Community College to build a campus along Capital for training high school students and adults in job skills.

Wood questions why that hasn't happened earlier, since Fry currently works for Ivy Tech as the supervisor of apprenticeship programs statewide. Fry said that would have been inappropriate, adding that he would have had to use his role as a state representative, seeking money through the legislature for the state college.

"In the legislative process, I avoid Ivy Tech like the plague," Fry said.

If elected mayor, Fry said that would be his solitary, full-time job.

Wood also points out that the city had to spend $98,000 in legal fees over the prior two years to fight one of Fry's legislative bills.

The bill, which Wood calls a "power grab," would have prevented an intersection at Capital for a new road across from the Indiana Toll Road exit.

The intersection eventually was permitted, as the Senate amended language in the bill.

Memorial Health System wanted the intersection to give access to one of its properties. But Fry said he wanted to limit the number of intersections on Capital, a state road, so that it wouldn't become slow and clogged with traffic like Grape Road.

Staff writer Joseph Dits: jdits@sbtinfo.com 574-235-6158More about the electionsThe Tribune this week is looking at issues in the Mishawaka mayor's race. To view stories online, go to http://www.southbendtribune.com/elections.